Mobile Programmatic Set To Be a Game Changer, Despite Hurdles

In the march
towards automation, greater control and transparency, more advertisers are
opting for programmatic buying of digital impressions than ever before. Be it
banners or video campaigns, the ability to cherry pick which impressions matter
and bid on them has empowered the advertiser ecosystem, delivering better
results and greater efficiency. By 2017, U.S. mobile programmatic media buying
is expected to reach $21.22 billion, or 78 percent of overall mobile display ad
spending, according to eMarketer. The growth the programmatic marketplace is
experiencing is undeniable, as it becomes a mainstay of digital advertising. A
study by AdRoll found that 98% of marketers surveyed expect their programmatic
ad budgets to increase or stay the same in the coming year, while 87% of
marketers believe programmatic ads provide a greater return on investment (ROI)
than traditional media.

There is no doubt
that programmatic has revolutionized online media buying and that it offers
significant benefits, but this road to opportunity is ridden with obstacles
such as Viewability and traffic fraud. Mobile programmatic advertising can be
challenging in many ways but when done thoughtfully and strategically, the ROI
can outweigh the challenges.

Mobile Programmatic: The Three Biggest
Challenges

Any revolutionary
method or new technology brings challenges and it is no different for
programmatic advertising. There are three major challenges surrounding
programmatic advertising – Viewability, ad fraud, and ad blocking. While these
are disturbing, they are definitely not insurmountable.

The Battle for Viewability

Ad impression Viewability
is an important aspect within online display advertising and continues to be a
challenge for programmatic advertisers. The advertisers will only want to pay
for the impressions that have been viewed by a human, and not for any others.
All the major associations and governing bodies are addressing online and
mobile advertising Viewability standards in an effort to bring the industry
closer to 100% Viewability.

As advertisers
demand higher standards for more effective ads, publishers and developers must
also be proactive in understanding the problem and exploring ways to address
the concerns, or risk losing valuable advertising dollars. These concerns have
given rise to new players in the advertising ecosystem which offer advertisers
the peace of mind of independent measurement of viewable impressions.
Advertisers can drive more effective ads by leveraging partnerships with such
players (e.g.: MOAT, Integral Ad Science, DoubleVerify). As the industry and
technology evolves, new standards will emerge for mobile advertising, and Viewability
standards will be re-defined from a pure buying-based model around served
impressions, to that of viewable impressions.

Ad Fraud and the Scourge of Non-Human
Traffic

Ad fraud is the
most significant programmatic advertising problem but is not exclusive to
programmatic alone. One type of fraud that is of particular concern is
impression fraud, when ad impressions are falsely generated to inflate some
impressions made, causing advertisers to spend more. This is also referred to
as bot behaviour. Ad fraud has become such an important area that big ad
networks have started selling “fraud-free” ads in the last couple of years. The
business for preventing ad fraud is potentially even larger. One way
advertisers can do so is by buying impressions from publishers and supply side
platforms they know and trust, and who offer transparency and enforce
safeguards against ad fraud. Identifying and eliminating bots requires systemic
analysis of impressions and clicks, to ensure advertisers only pay for valid,
human impressions.

The Industry’s Biggest Threat – Ad
blocking

The estimated
global economic cost of blocking ads will reach $41.4 billion this year
according to Adobe and PageFair. The debate within the publishing world is
whether to force users to pay a small fee for ad-free content or serve relevant
and high quality ads which can be accessed without ad blocking software.
Ad-free content poses a risk to the advertising industry, particularly in the
programmatic world.

The continuous
growth in the popularity of branded social media has proved that consumers
don’t really care whether the content is sponsored or not--they just want it to
be relevant and engaging. Currently, ads are intrusive, boring and unavoidable,
which is driving users to block ads. The key to getting this right is to
develop a targeting platform capable of listening to consumers, understanding
their behaviour with genuine consumer insight using performance metrics, and
thus adjusting the advertisements presented to them.

The Future of Programmatic is Bright

As the industry
evolves, there will be a push towards quality and efficiency. The progress that
come with programmatic clearly outweigh any short term challenges. Despite
these challenges, programmatic technologies are evolving and adoption is
increasing dramatic. More importantly, programmatic is attracting an
ever-increasing share of the global digital advertising spend and growing
confidence in programmatic solutions. Advertisers can become familiar with
programmatic advertising platforms by understanding algorithms, defining how
targeting works, and implementing the following actions to overcome the
challenges:

Clearly the future
lies in programmatic ad buying. The shift to programmatic will be accompanied
by its fair share of growing pains vs. the benefits of quality data for
targeting and the promise of greater transparency. By adopting innovative
solutions, programmatic advertisers can navigate the near term issues and lay
the groundwork for long term success.

Programmatic will
become a one-stop solution for delivery of all types of digital ads with rich
media, or videos, across both web and mobile platforms. This provides a
tremendous opportunity for both advertisers and publishers with an immediate
need to educate the market, adapt to the ever changing requirements, and to
localize and customize ads.

About the Author

Tanvi has been in the telecom industry for the last 6 years and is successfully using her understanding of the mobile user in the exciting mobile advertising ecosystem. In her latest role, she is responsible for dissecting the inspirations behind the user behavior on the mobile and identifying the best monetization strategies for the evolving mobile ecosystem.